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Chris Madalon UNC Lacrosse goalie lax
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Monday Vacation Lacrosse Drop

The Lacrosse action never stops, and this weekend was certainly no exception!  And even though I’m still on vacation (I know, you’re jealous), I still feel 100% obligated to write about some of the weekend’s happenings.  Ah, who am I kidding?  I don’t feel obligated at all, I just love LAX!

UNC takes down Princeton

Some people were pretty shocked at this result, especially with Billy Bitter going pointless on the night but I wasn’t.  Both UNC and Princeton are good teams that can play with anyone, but both can also lose to anyone if they don’t do the right things.  Princeton didn’t shoot on cage that well, UNC’s D played very well and all the focus on Bitter let other guys to step up even more.  Chris Madalon let in the first 3 shots on cage and then had 5 saves while only allowing 2 more goals.  All that and he plays with a dyed goalie stick.  Wonder who did that dye job?  Oh yeah, me.

Chris Madalon UNC Lacrosse goalie lax
Simple checkerboard dip fade. Nothing TOO crazy. Classic.

More great photos (as always!) on LAX.com

Crazy Early Season NESCACery

Trinity beat Conn College.  Yes, unranked and historically weak Trinity beat Connecticut College, a top 10 team from last year anda pre-season top 10 team from this year.  Obviously the Bantams won’t be sneaking up on ANYONE else this year, but is Trin-trin for real?  Is the NESCAC that much deeper?  Or is Conn totally overrated?  They had some tight games last year, which they won, but is the loss of Daschille going to affect them more than originally thought?  We’ll have to wait and see!  At Trinity, they’ve got new coaches, new attitudes, solid goaltending and a good deal of Seniors.  Time to make the Donuts!

Max Landow Wesleyan lacrosse lax
Max Landow coming up big for Wesleyan.

Photo courtesy Wesleyan.edu and Mat Vita

Wesleyan travelled up to Maine and took out #18 Bowdoin 7-6, after going down early.  Max Landow went for 3 goals and 3 assists.  With Citrin, Lasda and Malangone, maybe Wesleyan does have just a little offensive firepower.  After going pretty much exclusively man-to-man in their first two games, it looks like they went back to the zone at times vs the Polar Bears.  If they can transition between Ds seemlessly, it could be a good year for the Cardinals, when everyone thought they’d be down.  Or not.  Wesleyan just has to keep working hard and playing selfless lacrosse.  Bowdoin will benefit greatly from the return of their hockey players, who will be back this week after losing in the NCAAs.

Amherst hung tough with Tufts score-wise (although Tufts still won, and from what I’ve heard, somewhat comfortably) but look for Amherst to make moves in 2011.  These aren’t your typical Lord Jeffs!  Getting rid of their old coach, Tom Carmean, was the best thing that program ever did.

Non-NESCAC DIII-ery

Cortland – Gettysburg Photos on IL?  Sure thing.

Coaches Poll?  Why is Gettysburg still in the top 20?  Why is Geneseo ranked at all?  Whatever.  Really not that bad, but a full D3 report will come later this week.  Laxpower D3 Forum Poll drops at 1pm.  Interested to see this one and then compare it to my own!

Syracuse Leading the Way!

Cuse is the top team in D1, even if they allowed Georgetown to take them to OT.  They have a ton of talent, a good deal of flash, a lot of chrome and dyed heads, two of the best 2-way middies in recent memory (Miller and Thompson), an exciting, aggressive D and Jeremy Thompson.  I mentioned Thompson already in the parentheses?  Yes, he’s just that good.  Kid can face off, play D, run transition, run on O and shoot the lights out.  Plus he has a badass scalplock hairdo that says, “come and get it… if you dare” and he plays with a 4-diamond traditional.  So far he’s done nothing but back up the fact that he is the best all-around player in college lacrosse right now.  Still my early favorite for the Tewarraton.

Jeremy Thompson Syracuse lacrosse lax
SKILLS, traditional, hair. In that order.

More Cuse – Gtown picture on LAX.com

Don’t love the faded tramp stamp on Cuse’s uniforms.  They looked SO much better in their early 2000s “throwbacks”.  Wonder if Thompson would dig one of my wide traditional string jobs…. hmm.

Neon Nets

They looked awesome. Did they look rock hard and did the ball bounce off them like nothing I’ve ever seen?  Yes.  Maybe throw them in the laundry next time with some fabric softener.  I’d love to see Cuse put neon blue nets on their orange goals.  Could they even do that?  Would that be kosher?  Who cares.  It would look sick.

MCLA Love!

The big game (to me anyway) was Colorado – BYU, and the Red Hot Buffs, whom I had picked to win it all, lost 11-7.  It happens.  Michigan lost to Colorado last year and won it all, so I’m not too worried.  My pick could still pan out, but it’s clear that Colorado still has a lot of work to do.  Doesn’t everyone?!?!?!  The question is, who will work hardest, most efficiently and pull together as a team in the big games?  BYU is looking very impressive so far. I still think Utah is a good team, so CU’s win in that game means the potential is certainly there.

The basic thing I took away from the BYU – Colorado highlight is that Colorado needs to be more physical.  Way too much swinging at sticks, far too many soft body checks, and they consistently let BYU dodge through 2 slides.  One man has to at least stop the dodger.  The second man can go for the ball.  But stop the guy first and be physical.  They’ll get there, I think.

BYU vs. CU Lacrosse from megan houghton on Vimeo.  She does GREAT work!  Very impressive, Megan!

The single most intriguing team to me is Cal Poly.  Sure, they’ve lost to Chapman and Colorado State (both top 5 teams) by 1 and 2 goals respectively.  And yes, being in tight games is great, but winning them is better.  No question there. However, CP-SLO has also won a tight game against a good UCSB team and dominated lower rated Top 20 teams.  My biggest concern for Cal Poly is that they don’t have any more games against Top 10 teams.  When they hit the tourney, will they be ready to roll with the big boys?  Like I said, intriguing.

Oregon, the team I just can’t stop talking about, is still struggling a little bit.  With big games against UM-D and Colorado coming up, the Ducks need to get a big win.  Their best win so far is over a good-but-not-great Sonoma State, and that’s just not going to cut the mustard this year.  Time to buckle down again Ducks, and hit that next tier.  Or start getting ready for 2012.

NFL Out; MLL In

Seriously, if the NFL can’t get its act together, the MLL NEEDS to play this fall instead of Summer.  It would be well worth it.  I hope they have a plan.  If not, they can borrow mine.